• Investment bank Moelis & Co. is investigating a "serious incident" involving one of its employees. 
• On Sunday, a video showing a man appearing to punch a woman in Brooklyn, New York, surfaced online.
• The employee has been placed on leave, the bank told Business Insider on Monday.

A senior banker at boutique investment firm Moelis & Co. has been placed on leave after a "serious incident" over the weekend in Brooklyn, New York.

On Sunday, a video circulated online appearing to show a man punching a woman in the face in the street. The video's uploader identified the man as a senior Moelis banker.

"We are aware that one of our employees was involved in a serious incident in Brooklyn on June 8," a Moelis spokesperson told Business Insider.

"We take this matter very seriously, and this employee is on leave as we continue to conduct our investigation."

The statement came after a nine-second clip was shared on X, appearing to show a man throwing a punch at a woman, who subsequently falls into the road.

"This guy punched me in the face today and broke my nose and busted up my friends arm," reads the text on the video.

The video also shows a second individual lying on the road. What occurred before the filmed incident is unclear.

"She fucking threw shit all over me," the man can be heard saying in the clip as he walks away. An apparent stain can be seen on the back of his pale blazer.

"You are an asshole, you are a horrible person," one onlooker says to the man.

At the time of publication, the post had over 12 million views on X.

The user who posted the video on X said the incident took place on Saturday during Brooklyn Pride. They also identified the man as Jonathan Kaye, a managing director and partner at Moelis.

Moelis confirmed to BI that the employee placed on leave was Kaye.

Kaye attended Duke University School of Law and has worked in the investment banking industry for 20 years, according to his company profile.

He joined Moelis from Citi in 2013 and currently runs the firm's global business services franchise.

Kaye had taken down his LinkedIn page and did not immediately reply to a request for comment from BI.

In April, Moelis reported revenues of $217.5 million for the first quarter of 2024, up 17% from the same period in 2023, and announced it had hired four new managing directors, three in the Energy sector and one in the credit fund space.

Do you know more about the incident? Contact this reporter at pthompson@businessinsider.com.

The offers and details on this page may have updated or changed since the time of publication. See our article on Business Insider for current information.

• I have enough money for a 20% down payment, but I'd have to make too many compromises to own a home.
• I wish homeownership were easier, but renting isn't holding me back from succeeding financially.
• This article is part of "My Financial Life," a series helping people live and spend better.

In the US, the path to financial success seems set in stone: Get a degree, get a steady job, and buy a house. I was on this path myself, checking off the first two boxes on a predictable timeline. Yet at 36, married and with a toddler, I'm still renting a two-bedroom basement apartment in Seattle — not because I have to but because it's the best choice for us right now.

Despite the deeply ingrained cultural norm of glorifying homeownership, I've decided not to feel bad about renting. It affords us multiple luxuries: living in a beautiful neighborhood we could not afford to buy in, being near family and friends, paying far less in rent than we would on a mortgage, and spending almost no time or money on home maintenance.

I have enough for a down payment, even with rising housing costs

Technically, I have enough saved to afford a 20% down payment on the average American home — about $433,000 as of April, according to Redfin. This is an incredible privilege. While I did save quite a bit myself, the only reason I can even entertain the idea of owning is that I was left an inheritance two years ago.

As soon as I had enough, I started looking into buying. But then interest rates went up, while houses did not get cheaper, and supply did not increase. A typical monthly mortgage payment in our area is now higher than $5,000, and a recent report from Zillow found that to afford the typical home in Seattle, a household needed to earn more than $200,000 a year.

Meanwhile, I had a baby and shifted to freelance journalism, making my income more precarious.

So I faced the facts: We could afford to buy a house but not in our neighborhood, which is where I grew up and where my extended family still lives. Anywhere in the area, the ownership costs — including a mortgage, homeowner's insurance, and property taxes — would be far higher than our rent.

I'm not interested in compromising on my home

Right now, we have plenty of extra cash for fun social outings and small indulgences. That would not be the case if we owned. Factor in unforeseen expenses such as repairs, and we'd have to pinch pennies ruthlessly. In this season of life, when my kid is so young, and I'm still navigating a new career, living on such a tight budget seems deeply stressful.

While there are other compromises we could make, none of them seem worth it. We toured a townhouse awhile back that cost $400,000, but it was so cramped and charmless that the thought of spending our hard-earned savings on it was demoralizing. If I'm going to commit hundreds of thousands of dollars, I want to at least like the place.

Leaving the city is another option. The problem is, we love where we live, with its tree-lined streets and nearby waterfront. Plus, being near trusted relatives feels like a priceless resource now that we have a child.

Alternatively, I could get a job that pays more. But I love my work. It allows me to set my own hours, work from anywhere, and prioritize parenting at a time when my child has medical needs that require my attention. I earn more than enough for my modest needs.

I don't like the state of homeownership — but I like my choices

It wasn't always like this. In just 10 years, median home prices in Washington have increased by more than 170%. The housing-affordability crisis is largely a failure of policy. It's not right that gainfully employed people can't afford to buy a house in many cities anymore. We need more housing.

While I wish owning were more accessible, I also wish we had policies that made long-term renting an easier financial choice for those who prefer it for lifestyle reasons. Honestly, that would include me.

I write about houses for work, and I have interviewed hundreds of people about their remodels and DIY projects. Many of them see this as a labor of love, but there's no denying that it is labor. There's always something that needs fixing, painting, repairing, or updating. It's fascinating to learn about, but it makes me appreciate the relative ease of renting. Rather than spending my Saturdays at the hardware store, I can just hang out and relax.

I understand the financial case for homeownership, so if it makes sense in the future, I'd be happy to change my mind. However, it's not the only way to build financial security. We max out our tax-sheltered retirement accounts and put most of our money in a high-yield savings account with Betterment Cash Reserve. Ultimately, what I've realized is that a house is not merely a financial decision. It's my home, where I spend most of my time. If enjoying my home means renting for now, I'll continue to do that without shame.

• Russia has largely kept its Su-57 fighter jets out of the war in Ukraine, fearing a combat loss.
• But on Saturday, Ukrainian forces struck one of the aircraft hundreds of miles from the battlefield.
• It marked the first-ever hit on Russia's much-celebrated fighter.

Russia has tried to keep its very limited number of Su-57 fighter jets hidden from the war in Ukraine, fearing that a combat loss would be a blow to the aircraft's reputation, according to Western intelligence and aviation experts.

But over the weekend, Ukraine damaged one of the fifth-generation fighters anyway in a long-range strike hundreds of miles inside Russian territory, underscoring the vulnerabilities to Moscow's most-celebrated weapons — even if they're far from the battlefield.

A Su-57 was "hit for the first time" on Saturday in an attack on Russia's Akhtubinsk airfield, located more than 365 miles from the front line, the Ukrainian Main Directorate of Intelligence wrote in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.

To back up its claims, the HUR shared satellite imagery purportedly showing some damage to the aircraft as a result of the strike, as well as visible explosion and burn marks on the tarmac in the immediate vicinity of the fighter jet.

The extent of the damage is ultimately unclear, and Business Insider was unable to immediately verify the imagery.

Multiple Su-57s could be seen at the Akhtubinsk airfield as early as December 2022, according to satellite images shared by Britain's defense ministry.

In both images, the Su-57s appear parked outside without any hardened shelters. The Saturday imagery does appear to reveal some sort of arched structure, but whatever it is did not prevent the attack, which was reportedly carried out by a low-cost Ukrainian drone.

This particular detail has not gone over well with Moscow's war commentators.

"Russian milbloggers seized on the June 8 strike to criticize the Russian military command for not constructing hangars to hide Russian aircraft from Ukrainian strikes," analysts at the Institute for the Study of War think tank wrote in a Monday assessment.

The milbloggers "claimed that Russian forces could construct hangars at every military airfield in Russia for the cost of one Su-57 aircraft," which costs an estimated $35 million, the analysts noted.

Russia's problematic Su-57 program

The twin-engine Su-57, known by NATO as the 'Felon,' is Russia's first attempt at a fifth-generation fighter, although analysts have often questioned whether the aircraft can actually claim that status considering that it apparently lacks some of the necessary capabilities.

Russian state media has often touted the Su-57 as being comparable to — or even better than — American fifth-generation stealth fighters like the F-22 and F-35. But it is riddled with technical issues, including a lack of stealth-capable engines and body panels that are tight enough to sufficiently reduce the radar signature.

The aircraft first saw combat in Syria in 2018 and was delivered to the Russian military in 2020. Kremlin officials have claimed that the Su-57 has seen combat in Ukraine, although the evidence supporting the claims is extremely limited.

Western intelligence and aviation experts have said that Russia's reluctance to employ the Su-57 in combat suggests it is eager to avoid any reputational damage, the loss of sensitive technologies, and reduced export possibilities that could occur if the aircraft is shot down by Ukraine. Additionally, Moscow may not be confident in the aircraft's purported stealth capabilities.

The HUR said that the Su-57 is Russia's "most modern fighter," capable of launching Kh-59/69 missiles, and there are only "a few" of the fighters in service. Ukraine's Southern Command specified that Kyiv on Saturday struck one of six operational aircraft. Moscow has a similar number of unfinished jets.

Russian state media has suggested the military will eventually field dozens of Su-57s by the end of the decade, but it's unclear if these plans will materialize.

Justin Bronk, an airpower and technology expert at the UK-based Royal United Services Institute think tank, said the Ukrainian strike on Saturday is a "significant symbolic blow" to Moscow's "long-troubled" Su-57 program, though its direct effect on the war will be "almost non-existent."

"Due to its small fleet size, the political humiliation if one were to be shot down, and slow aircraft systems development, the Su-57 has played an extremely minor role in the conflict to date," Bronk wrote in a Monday analysis.

He said that the strike demonstrates that Ukraine has a "relatively mature low-cost long-range harassment capability" that it can use to strike military bases deep inside Russia.

Ukraine has relied on an arsenal of homemade, long-range exploding drones to repeatedly strike military and energy targets hundreds of miles inside Russian territory over the past few months because Kyiv had been unable to do so with Western-provided missiles. Some of these restrictions, however, have been relaxed in recent weeks, giving Ukraine more options.

• The Dutch Ministry of Defence said one of its warships was harassed by two Chinese fighter jets.
• They circled the HNLMS Tromp several times last Friday over the East China Sea, it said.
• The warship was part of efforts to enforce sanctions on North Korea.

A Dutch warship was harassed by two Chinese fighter jets last Friday as it was enforcing maritime sanctions against North Korea, according to the Netherlands' Ministry of Defence.

The Chinese aircraft circled the HNLMS Tromp, a frigate, several times while it was in international waters, the statement said.

It added that the warship's patrol helicopter was also "approached" by the Chinese aircraft while it was patrolling the area.

"This created a potentially unsafe situation," the statement said.

The Netherlands, a NATO founding member, is the latest country to claim that China approached or intimidated one of its warships or aircraft in the region.

In June 2023, China conducted a risky intercept of a US spy plane over the South China Sea.

The US also released records in October 2023 reporting multiple instances of aggressive flight conduct by Chinese planes.

In April, a Chinese coastguard ship collided with a Philippine vessel inside the Philippines' exclusive economic zone.

And as recently as May, a Chinese jet released flares close to an Australian military helicopter over the Yellow Sea.

The US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs, Ely Ratner, said in 2022 that China's increasingly aggressive behavior around the South China Sea could eventually lead to a "major incident or accident."

According to the Dutch ministry, HNLMS Tromp had been at sea since March, sailing first to the Red Sea and then onto the Indo-Pacific in June.

It stopped in Busan, South Korea, on June 3 as part of its seven-month journey, according to a press release.

The warship was patrolling the East China Sea in support of a multinational UN group that oversees the implementation of maritime sanctions against North Korea.

It is expected to return to the Dutch city of Den Helder in mid-September, via the Panama Canal and the Caribbean Sea, the ministry said.

• Adjusting for inflation, airfares are much more affordable than they were nearly 30 years ago. 
• But plenty of Americans remain frustrated by flight prices. 
• BI asked experts why inflation-adjusted airfares have fallen and why some people haven't noticed. 

The last time you bought a plane ticket, you probably got a better deal than you realized. That's because, believe it or not, airfares are much more affordable than they were three decades ago.

In 1995, the average US domestic airfare was $292 — excluding optional fees, like ones related to baggage — according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. In 2023, the average fare was $382, up over 30% from 1995. However, the story changes dramatically when adjusting for inflation. In 2023 dollars, the average airfare fell from $584 to $382 between 1995 and 2023, a nearly 35% decline.

It means that flying, like the prices of televisions and toys, is much more affordable than it used to be. But if you ask some Americans, airfares have gotten out of control in recent years.

"There's little doubt in my mind that people think airfare is at historic highs and getting more expensive," Scott Keyes, an airline industry expert and the founder of travel-membership service Going.com, told Business Insider via email. "We are living in the golden age of cheap flights, but few people recognize it."

Additionally, Mike Daher, a transportation expert at Deloitte, said in a report published in May that there's "a perception that airfares and room rates are high, and some Americans are sitting out travel this summer as they look for softer pricing."

It's not just domestic flights that have gotten more affordable. Keyes said international inflation-adjusted airfares for US passengers have also generally fallen over the past decade.

Frustrations over flying costs could be among the reasons the share of Americans with a negative opinion of the airline industry is at the highest level since 2011, according to a Gallup survey of over 1,000 US adults conducted last August. The federal government seems to have taken notice. In January, a federal judge blocked the JetBlue-Spirit Airlines merger after the Biden Administration raised concerns about the impact it would have on flight prices. In April, the Department of Transportation announced a rule it said would protect consumers from "surprise junk fees" — such as the costs of additional baggage and reservation changes — and save fliers over $500 million a year.

To be sure, any frustrations about airfare prices haven't stopped many Americans from flying. When pandemic restrictions eased, Americans unleashed their pent-up travel demand on the airline industry. And that momentum has continued: on May 24, TSA officers screened nearly three million passengers, a record figure.

Still, the overall decline in actual airfare prices over the last two years suggests passenger demand "seems to have subsided" a bit, Kerry Tan, a professor of economics at Loyola University Maryland, told BI via email. He said this suggests demand could be normalizing and that some Americans balked at 2022's uptick in flight prices — even though tickets remained more affordable than pre-pandemic levels when adjusted for inflation.

Going forward, airlines will continue to be impacted by Americans' perception of flight prices. To the extent this perception influences Americans' broader feelings about inflation and the economy, it could play a role in the presidential election this fall.

Business Insider spoke with airline industry experts to learn why inflation-adjusted airfares have fallen over the past two decades — and why some Americans don't seem to have noticed.

Why flights have become more affordable

Airline industry experts told BI that one of the biggest factors driving down inflation-adjusted airfares is the rise of lower-cost, budget airlines.

In 2000, United, American, and Delta flights accounted for 73% of US domestic passengers, according to an analysis of Department of Transportation data by the trade association Airlines for America. By 2023, their share of passengers had fallen to 52% as lower-cost airlines like Southwest, JetBlue, Spirit, and Frontier emerged.

This development led to cheaper airfares through what airline insiders call the "Southwest Effect."

"When researchers have studied airfare, they've found that when a low-cost carrier like Southwest or Spirit begins flying a new route, fares fall an average of 20% on all airlines operating that route," Keyes said. "That's because price is by far the most important factor for leisure travelers' purchase decision, and so competition from new airlines — especially low-cost carriers — drives down fares across the board."

Keyes said another factor that has pushed down fares is "more and larger airplanes."

In addition to having more planes in their fleets than they used to, airlines have retired smaller planes in recent decades and replaced them with larger aircraft. In 2005, 11% of commercial airplanes had at least 151 seats — compared to 48% as of 2023.

"Larger planes, better fuel efficiency, and more seats are lowering the overall flight costs for airlines, and those savings are being passed onto travelers," Keyes said.

Despite the competition of cheaper airlines — and the lower inflation-adjusted fares they helped bring about — airlines like United, American, and Delta haven't suffered for it financially.

"The decline in inflation-adjusted airfares appears to be uncorrelated with the financial performance of the 'big three' airlines," Tan said.

Keyes said the years between 2015 and 2019 were "among the most profitable ever" for US airlines. He said declining inflation-adjusted fares haven't hindered airline profits because their business models aren't as reliant on ticket revenue as they used to be.

"Today, airline revenue comes primarily from sources other than economy tickets," he said. "This includes premium cabin revenue, credit cards, business travel, ancillary fees, cargo, and other sources."

Why Americans don't feel like they're getting a deal on airfares

If airfare prices are more affordable than they used to be, there could be several explanations why Americans remain frustrated.

"Consumers may not always think about inflation-adjusted airfares, so their frustration could be due to the higher nominal level of prices," Tan said. "It could also be that travelers are more frustrated by their travel experience as there's been a slight increase in flight delays since the COVID-19 pandemic."

It's also possible that after airfare prices plummeted due to the pandemic, 2022's swift rise in airfares caught Americans off guard. In September 2022, airfares rose roughly 43% compared to the prior year, the highest rate on record.

Additionally, airfare isn't the only cost of flying — many passengers pay fees for things like extra baggage and seat assignments. These fees can be tacked on well into the booking process, something the Biden Administration is trying to crack down on. Fourty-four percent of Americans said they at least sometimes pay more for airfares than the initial price they were shown, according to a YouGov survey conducted last July. This year, United, American, and Delta have each raised their checked bag fees.

But while these fees may be costly to some customers, Keyes said they haven't done much to offset the decline in inflation-adjusted airfares. The Airlines for America analysis found that including fees for baggage and reservation changes, the average US roundtrip ticket was $406 in 2023. Since 2010, only 2020 and 2021 offered more affordable flights — much of which was due to the decline in demand tied to the pandemic.

It's also possible the rising prices of goods and services across the US economy have left Americans with less money to spend on airfares, which is what's making their plane tickets feel particularly expensive. Some people have stuck with their pandemic habit of booking flights only a few weeks in advance due to uncertainty surrounding their travel plans, Hayley Berg, Hopper's lead economist, told NerdWallet. She recommended booking at least one month in advance to get lower airfares.

For some Americans, plane tickets are among the most expensive purchases they make on a semi-regular basis, something that could make people particularly sensitive to price increases. For others, flying is something they rarely do — which could make them less likely to notice a decadeslong shift in inflation-adjuted prices.

Lastly, the unpredictable nature of airfare price swings could be frustrating for consumers, Keyes said. And when it comes to economic issues like travel costs, it's not uncommon for Americans to have negative feelings that don't jive with the data.

"Airfare is the single most confusing and volatile purchase we regularly make," he said. "Combine that with negativity bias and it's no surprise that even as airfare hits historic lows, people are more likely to think it's at historic highs."

Have you found a creative way to save money on travel or flights? Are you willing to share your story? If so, reach out to this reporter at jzinkula@businessinsider.com.

• Fitch Ratings revised its office delinquency forecast for 2024 and 2025.
• The sector's recovery will be slower than after the global financial crisis, it said.
• Maturing office loan refinanceability will reach no more than 16%-21%.

Things are not looking up for the US office sector, with loan performance set to slump even further in 2025, Fitch Ratings said.

After the market significantly underperformed Fitch's year-to-date expectations in May, the rating agency has revised its office delinquency forecast to 8.4% and 11% through this and next year. That's up from projections of 8.1% and 9.9%, respectively.

Driving the fallout are still-elevated interest rates, cooling economic growth, and a stricter lending environment, Fitch wrote on Friday. That's all happening against a broad decline in office demand, as hybrid or fully remote work has become an entrenched norm.

By one estimate, the work-from-home trend could fuel a 30% peak-to-trough price correction for office properties, and vacancy rates have only kept rising, hitting a record high of nearly 14% in May, the National Association of Realtors found.

"The recovery of the office sector will be slower and more drawn out during this cycle than following the global financial crisis and will lead to permanent impairments in property values, weaker performance, and higher loan losses," Fitch wrote on Friday.

Fitch anticipates low refinanceability on maturing office loans through this year, with 16%-21% able to refinance. Already, offices have the lowest refinancing percentage of major property types, the rating agency noted, with the year-to-date refinancing rate hitting 5% in May.

While most loans will remain cash-flow positive in the next two years, lower-quality office properties are more at risk.

"Eighteen out of 44 Fitch-rated office [single asset, single borrower] transactions are Fitch Loans of Concern due to refinance concerns, elevated tenancy rollover, declining occupancies/rents, high concentrations of dark/sublease spaces, limited performance stabilization and deteriorating market fundamentals," the note said.

A looming commercial real estate loan crash has been a persistent worry among analysts and market observers, with $2.1 trillion in debt expected to mature by the end of next year.

• Microsoft's GitHub Copilot is partly responsible for bringing a focus on generative AI to Apple, a report says.
• Apple's senior vice president of software engineering became a "convert" after trying it, per The Wall Street Journal.
• Apple execs were also impressed by ChatGPT and subsequently wanted to upgrade Siri, The New York Times previously reported. 

An Apple exec was inspired to drive a focus on generative AI in his division after using one such tool from the competition, a new report says.

Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering, became a "convert" over the 2022 Christmas break after using GitHub Copilot, an AI code completion tool, according to a Wall Street Journal article published Wednesday, citing people familiar with his experience. GitHub was acquired by Microsoft for $7.5 billion back in 2018.

Federighi subsequently asked employees in his software engineering division to devise ways to integrate generative AI into products, former engineers and execs told the Journal.

In other words, we might have Microsoft's GitHub to thank for Apple seeing the light on AI — at least in part. It's not the first time competitors' generative AI tools reportedly motivated Apple to work on its own.

Federighi and John Giannandrea, Apple's senior vice president of Machine Learning and AI Strategy, decided Siri needed an upgrade after spending weeks using ChatGPT themselves, The New York Times reported last month, citing two people familiar with the matter.

Apple hopes generative AI will help Siri perform better at existing tasks and take on new ones, like summarizing texts and chatting, the Times reported, citing three sources familiar with Apple's work.

Apple is expected to make some sort of AI announcement at WWDC, its annual developers conference, on Monday.

Apple did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

• After growing up in Los Angeles, I moved to Barcelona in early 2020.
• Life abroad has brought many unforeseen challenges, like only seeing my family once a year.
• It was harder to open a bank account and find an apartment in a new country than I expected.

After taking annual vacations to Europe for over a decade, I followed my dream and moved abroad right after my 32nd birthday. I spent six months in Bordeaux, France, before heading to Barcelona, Spain, in early 2020.

Leaving Los Angeles and building a new life here hasn't been all rainbows and butterflies — after all, the coronavirus pandemic hit three weeks after my arrival — but I'm so grateful I've put down roots here.

Now, I'm engaged, I found steady work as an English teacher, and I'm pursuing my passion for music.

Looking back, here are the 10 things I wish I had known before moving abroad.

Living so far from home has made me realize that I can't always be there for people when they need me and vice versa.

The majority of my close friends and family members live in Los Angeles, approximately 6,000 miles away. If something were to happen to me, it would take them 14 hours to get here.

During the early months of the pandemic, I was in constant fear that I wouldn't be able to help my loved ones if they got sick. I also had to factor in quarantine guidelines since I'd be traveling from outside the US.

Luckily, nothing serious happened to my friends or family during the height of the pandemic, but I still deal with some lingering stress and fear from that time.

 

The time difference between Los Angeles and Barcelona makes it hard to stay connected with friends and family.

When I lived stateside, I talked with some of my friends and family members daily. So, I knew the nine-hour time difference between Barcelona and Los Angeles would be challenging, but I couldn't have imagined how much it would affect my life.  

We still chat whenever we can, but it's difficult to find a time that works for everyone. When I take my lunch break at 1 p.m., my best friend is fast asleep in Los Angeles, where it's 4 a.m. And we tend to have different energy levels when we do talk since it's the beginning of her day and the end of mine.

If I need to reach family or friends in Los Angeles on short notice, there's a good chance they'll be unavailable because of the massive time change. I've found it's best to schedule the calls ahead of time.

When my friends have visited, it's been so wonderful to connect with them in the same time zone, enjoying coffee together in the mornings and a glass of wine together in the evenings. 

I inevitably end up missing a lot of important milestones, like weddings and birthdays.

When I moved abroad, I wasn't sure how long I'd be gone. I told myself that I'd visit Los Angeles after a year, but that became difficult during the pandemic. Multiple years passed before I was able to visit home. 

Many of my friends have had children, weddings, or huge career breakthroughs. I wish I could've been there to celebrate these special occasions, and I wish they could've been in Barcelona to celebrate my birthday and accomplishments.

I've vowed to prioritize more frequent trips to Los Angeles to make up for lost time; however, long flights and pricey tickets make it hard to visit more than once a year. Luckily, when I get to see my friends in person, it feels like no time has passed, even if our lives have changed.

Because flights are so expensive around the holidays, I rarely get to spend them with my family.

Before I moved, I didn't realize that I'd often spend holidays alone or with other expats. Plane tickets can be outrageously expensive during the holidays, making it unrealistic for me to travel during this time. 

I've made the best of it by introducing Thanksgiving to my friends from around the world and learning about their Christmas traditions.

I still can't help but feel homesick, as I miss my mom's Christmas brunch and my annual Friendsgiving celebration. Though I'm grateful for new, multicultural traditions, I hope I can make it back home for the holidays soon.

When I'm feeling homesick, I have a hard time relating to my friends from Spain and other parts of Europe.

It took time to make new friends, but after about six months in Barcelona, I'd started to form a solid group. Many of my friends were from Barcelona or nearby European countries. At times, I found it hard to relate to them since I felt so far from home.

Thankfully, I met my fiancé the first summer I lived in Barcelona. He's also an expat and arrived in the city around the same time as I did, so we bonded pretty quickly.

Barcelona is a pretty transient place, which makes it hard to form lasting friendships.

Like so many large cities, Barcelona is transient. It's a melting pot of many cultures, making it an exciting place to live, but not everyone is looking to settle down here. 

I've made some friends who moved away after six months. I'm always sad to see them go, and it can be hard to put effort into making new connections when you don't know how long someone plans on staying in the city.

It didn't take long to learn that living in a foreign city is vastly different than visiting one.

When I thought about living in Europe full-time, I pictured myself sitting at a café, sipping wine, and journaling. All of these things do happen, just not on a daily basis.

Living here is very different than vacationing here, and I still deal with day-to-day stresses. I have to work, commute during rush hour, and do laundry, just like I did in Los Angeles.

Finding an apartment and opening a bank account in Barcelona was much more difficult than I expected.

Not only were all of the baking and lease documents in a language I didn't speak, but the requirements for opening a bank account and finding an apartment were different from those in Los Angeles.

To open a bank account, I needed a lot of documents I didn't have right when I moved to the city. 

The apartment hunt wasn't easy either. When I first arrived, I stayed in an Airbnb and then rented a room from a friend, but eventually, my partner and I wanted to find our own place.

I was shocked by how expensive moving into an apartment was in Barcelona. Many apartments required two months of rent, a deposit, and a real-estate agency fee, so we had to cough up a lot more money than we expected.

I haven't been able to find familiar over-the-counter medications in Spain.

There was something comforting about knowing exactly which over-the-counter medicine to take in the US.

Because I wasn't able to find Advil, Midol, or Pepto Bismol in Barcelona, I've had to learn from scratch what works for me. The pharmacists here have been incredibly helpful, but I still miss the comfort of some of my go-to medicines in the US.

Starting over in my 30s made me feel stressed and insecure, and I constantly compared myself to other people.

I had a well-established life in Los Angeles, with a full-time job, an apartment, and friends. When I moved to Europe at 32, I had to start over, which gave me a lot of insecurities. I started comparing myself with others all the time. 

Starting over in a new city meant I had to work my way up from the bottom. When I moved, I had a part-time teaching position and a dream to pursue music.

I always imagined my life to be more stable in my mid-30s, but I chose to take a different path, I've learned to accept that I can't have it all and that stability comes with time.

Life abroad isn't always easy, but it's worth every single challenge I've faced.

Although moving abroad has its fair share of struggles, my overall quality of life has tremendously improved. Barcelona's walkability, sunny weather, and beaches have all been game-changers.

I also live steps from a labyrinth of delicious restaurants and chic bars, which are generally more affordable than similar spots in Los Angeles.

Even though I sometimes feel homesick, I'm glad I took the risk of moving to a different part of the world.

This story was originally published on July 28, 2023, and most recently updated on June 10, 2024.

• Eleven GOP state attorneys general filed a lawsuit to block the SAVE student-loan repayment plan.
• A district judge in Kansas ruled that only three of those states have standing to sue.
• Even so, the judge said, their case is weak.

Student-loan borrowers enrolled in President Joe Biden's new repayment plan may have just gotten some relief from legal challenges.

In March, 11 GOP state attorneys general filed a lawsuit in Kansas to block the SAVE income-driven repayment, arguing that the plan — which gives borrowers lower monthly payments and a shortened timeline to debt relief — goes against the Supreme Court's decision last summer to block Biden's broad debt cancellation plan.

The states requested that the court stop the SAVE plan's implementation. Kansas District Judge Daniel Crabtree issued his response on June 7, and he said that only three states — South Carolina, Texas, and Alaska — "just barely" have standing to provide the SAVE plan will reduce their states' revenues.

To prove standing, plaintiffs have to show that they'd be injured by the policy, that the injury can be directly traced back to the defendant, and that the relief they're seeking would address those injuries. Crabtree wrote that the three states' standing is "weaker than the one that prevailed" at the Supreme Court.

Crabtree also said that the other eight plaintiffs' argument that the SAVE plan's relief would undermine their recruiting efforts through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program has not, and will not, hold up in court.

"No court has ever bought into this theory, and this court declines to become the first," he wrote. "These plaintiffs simply have no skin in the game. Their answer to Justice Scalia's colloquial expression of standing—What's it to you?—is this: It's nothing."

Crabtree explained how this case is different from Biden v. Nebraska, the case brought before the Supreme Court. In Biden v. Nebraska, the plaintiffs argued that Biden's plan at the time to forgive up to $20,000 in student debt for borrowers making under $125,000 a year would harm student-loan company MOHELA because it would no longer be able to collect revenue from servicing forgiven loans.

In the case to block SAVE, the states are not arguing they would lose money from servicing loans. They're instead arguing that SAVE would cost them interest revenue because borrowers would have an incentive to consolidate privately held loans into direct loans, making the federal government their sole lender.

Biden's student-debt relief efforts are no stranger to legal challenges. In April, another seven GOP attorneys general filed a separate lawsuit to block SAVE, and in October, the New Civil Liberties Alliance filed a lawsuit on behalf of conservative groups the Cato Institue and Mackinac Center for Public Policy to block the Education Department's one-time account adjustments.

With regards to the latter case, the Sixth Circuit in May rejected the groups' appeal to block the account adjustments because their argument that the relief would undermine PSLF recruiting was "unconvincing and illogical."

The Education Department has maintained that its relief efforts are in accordance with the law. It's also in the process of implementing a broader student-loan forgiveness plan to replace the one the Supreme Court struck down, which is also likely to result in lawsuits.

•  Buying a home won't get cheaper from here, Kevin O'Leary said. 
• The "Shark Tank" investor predicted high mortgage rates were here to stay.
• Pandemic migration trends also aren't reversing, which has kept home prices elevated. 

The housing market probably isn't ever going to get any cheaper, according to "Shark Tank" star Kevin O'Leary.

Speaking to Fox Business on Sunday, the investor pointed to the rapid run-up in interest rates, which has been the main culprit behind higher housing costs, and that's not going to change.

Central bankers kicked off the most aggressive monetary policy tightening campaign ever in 2022 in order to tame inflation. Prices have come down significantly from their highs, but central bankers look poised to keep rates higher for longer, as they're still keeping an eye on inflationary pressures in the economy.

"Only 12 months ago, we were thinking seven rate cuts, of which none have appeared because inflation remains rampant," O'Leary said, noting that consumer prices remain well above the Fed's 2% target. "I'm not sure that's going to change at all."

That's bad news for home buyers, given that interest rates influence mortgage rates and home prices. The 30-year fixed mortgage rate stuck close to 7% last week, according to Freddie Mac data. Meanwhile, the median sales price for a US home rose to a record-high of $407,600 in April, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Meanwhile, pandemic migration trends look like they're here to stay, O'Leary said, which has also pushed up housing prices. Work-from-home trends have fueled more interest in suburban areas and areas away from the biggest metros, which isn't likely to reverse, he predicted.

"The prices of those houses in rural regions went way through the roof," O'Leary said. "It's a new America. It's a digitized America, and housing is more expensive."

Other real estate experts have warned affordability conditions aren't improving anytime soon. Zillow economists expect home prices and mortgage rates to stay mostly level this year, which could bring another tough year for home sales.